Sports Then and Now

After almost four decades, the Boston Bruins are champions.

The story for these Boston Bruins coming into the 2010-11 season was whether or not they could overcome the mental damage caused by one of the biggest collapses in the history of sports. Boston had shown so much promise over recent seasons, taking the Montreal Canadiens to a seventh game before getting blown out, running wild on the Eastern Conference before a disappointing second round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and then their heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Many hoped that the Bruins would learn from their defeats and finally quench the thirst of a city absolutely begging to drink from the Stanley Cup after thirty-nine long years. Most of the current generation of Bruins fans were not even a thought in their parents head the last time the Bruins captured Stanley Cup glory but with the offseason acquisition of Nathan Horton, the hype of drafting Tyler Seguin and an ever improving cast of characters, expectations and hopes were at a high when Boston began their season overseas.

The first game of the season did not go exactly as planned, as the Boston defense abandoned wonder kid Tuukka Rask and the Bruins were trounced by the Coyotes. The following game, Tim Thomas stepped back between the pipes and what many thought was just a hot start turned into a record setting season for Thomas and a historic season for the Bruins.

A running theme for the Bruins throughout their entire season was redemption. Tim Thomas, after a down year due to a bad hip, was eager to prove his first Vezina trophy was no fluke. Zdeno Chara played like a man possessed, quieting doubters who believed he should be stripped of his captaincy. The individual stories were plentiful for Boston but it was how they came together as a team to find redemption that defined them.

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Boston's machine like effort earned them a trip to the Finals.

Heading into Friday night’s Game Seven against the Tampa Bay Lighting, the Boston Bruins were continually reminded of all the missed opportunities in their series. They blew a 3-0 lead in Game Four that would have given them a 3-1 series lead. Their penalty kill faltered and they wasted a David Krejci hat trick in Game Six.

There was talk that Tim Thomas was getting too tired, that the Bruins defense just did not have what it takes to keep up with the Lighting and that the Bruins had the inability to play a full sixty minute. On Friday night, with both their season and a Stanley Cup Finals berth on the line, this Bruins team showed again that when it matters most, when everything is on the line, they show up to play.

Tim Thomas showed his laser like focus, Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara led a defense that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time and each offensive line launched endless waves of attacks until they finally beat Roloson, a beautiful play from Boston’s top line, that ended with Nathan Horton potting the game winning goal.

From the second the puck dropped the Bruins played like a team that was not going to lose. The crowd fed off of their confidence and roared virtually the entire game. With every blocked shot, with every big hit, with every close call the crowd felt how much this Bruins team wanted it. Any question of this team’s heart and desire to make it to the Finals was easily erased from even the most illogical doubters.

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The Steve Bartman foul ball is just one of many unlucky moments for the Chicago Cubs and their fans.

Today is Friday, the 13th, a date that superstitious people believe is unlucky.

With that in mind, here is a list of the 13 most unlucky teams in professional sports.

These are teams that have not won championships in the past few decades, have suffered numerous devastating losses, and fan bases that believe that their team is cursed.

13. Phoenix Suns (NBA)
The Suns have more regular season wins than any other NBA franchise without an NBA championship, as there have 19 seasons where the team won at least 50 games, three of those of at least 60 wins, and been to the NBA Finals twice, only to lose both times.

Suns fans believe the reason for their bad luck stems for the 1969 NBA Draft where the Suns and Milwaukee Bucks were up for the number one pick, which would be decided by a coin flip.

The winner of the coin toss would get the #1 pick and would select Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Suns executive Jerry Colangelo called “heads”, but the coin landed “tails” and the Bucks won the rights for the #1 pick and of course picked Alcindor, who led Milwaukee to a NBA title just two years later.

12. Philadelphia Eagles (NFL)
The Eagles have gone over a half a century without a NFL title, their last championship coming in 1960.

Most of the Eagles’ heartbreak has come in the 21st century as the team has made five appearances in the NFC Championship Game, only winning once in 2004, where they advance to Super Bowl XXXIX and lost to the New England Patriots 24-21.

Philadelphia also appeared in Super Bowl XV but lost to the Oakland Raiders and lost the famous “Fog Bowl” to the Chicago Bears in a loss that many Eagle fans feel cost them another appearance in the Super Bowl. Read the rest of this entry →

Marcel Dionne and the Los Angeles Kings pulled off an amazing upset of the Wayne Gretzky led Oilers in the 1982 playoffs.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin tomorrow and casual sports fans should know the NHL’s postseason is perhaps the most unpredictable in professional sports.

Since the National Hockey League went to the conference format in 1994, eight #1 seeds have been eliminated in the first round.

With that in mind, here is a list of the 10 greatest first round upsets in NHL history.

The moments on this list go back to as far as 1980, ever since the Stanley Cup Playoffs began to accept 16 teams.

10. 2009 Sharks-Ducks
The President’s Trophy is awarded to the team with the best regular season record in the NHL, but has almost became a kiss of death as only seven teams have gone to win the Stanley Cup after winning the President’s trophy and five winners have been knocked out in the first round since the NHL began awarding the trophy in 1986.

The 2009 San Jose Sharks became the fourth of the five President’s trophy winners to be eliminated in the first round after losing to the Anaheim Ducks in a six-game series, following a season where the Sharks complied 117 points compared to the Ducks’ 91.

9. 1981 Oilers-Canadians
Wayne Gretzky won his first playoff series with a stunning upset of the Montreal Canadians.

In the 1981 playoffs, the 16 playoff teams were seeded 1 through 16, regardless of conference or division, so the Oilers were seeded #14 after a 74-point season and faced the #3 seed Montreal Canadians, who had complied 103 points in the regular season.

Gretzky set the tone with five assists in the Oilers’ 6-3 victory in Game 1, leading to a sweep of the Canadians in three games in the best-of-five series. Read the rest of this entry →

The Buffalo Sabres need a spark to help them stop getting squeezed by the rest of the NHL.

I’ve come to enjoy tweeting with my social media peeps while watching Buffalo Sabres games. Whether I’m at HSBC Arena or watching on TV, it is the next best thing to sitting with a group of friends while watching the action.

As the Sabres slowly let the air out of a 2-0 first period lead on Philadelphia, eventually losing 5-2, last night, more than one of my friends tweeted, “Save us Pegula!” Pegula being billionaire Terry Pegula, rumored to be on the verge of purchasing the Sabres from Paychex mogul, Tom Golisano, for a reported $175 million.

We’ve been hearing that a deal is imminent for a while now, while minority owner and managing partner, Larry Quinn continues to repeat catty non-denial denials, but reports persist. Yesterday Sabres officials confirmed that Mr. Pegula was in Buffalo, in “informal talks” at the Sabres front office, “kicking the tires,” as one report put it, on his putative acquisition, and rumors of Pegula sightings were rampant on Twitter during last night’s game.

Originally from the Buffalo suburbs, Pegula, who now lives in Pennsylvania, is known as a true hockey fanatic, as well as a rabid Sabres fan. Equally important, he has the means as well as the sentiment to end the frustration of Sabres fans everywhere. Read the rest of this entry →

In the year of the underdog, the Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup title in 46 years.

It began with the Saints winning the Super Bowl. After that, it was one underdog triumph after another.

March was unusually mad, as Butler’s Bulldogs beat several favorites to earn their place in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game.

In the NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers squeaked into the playoffs at the last possible moment and continued their unlikely run all the way to the finals before losing to Chicago. While the Blackhawks were the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, being in such a favored position was a first for that franchise in recent memory.

In Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers made their franchise’s first appearance including their original identity as the Washington Senators. The Giants made their first appearance since leaving New York and their first in a half-century, eventually winning on the mysterious power of the fearsome beards.

Major League Soccer also crowned a first time champion, the Colorado Rapids. The most likely teams to win the MLS Cup were eliminated early. Meanwhile in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) the expansion Philadelphia Independence made it all the way to the championship game before finally falling short. Read the rest of this entry →